Twitter Made The Most Exciting New App We've Seen In Months

The tech press fell in love with Twitter's new video-sharing app
Vine this week. And rightfully so; it's really, really good. A
blast to use.

On the other hand, a lot of people are jumping the gun,
proclaiming Vine a revolution. It isn't.

I don't think Vine is a game-changer. I don't think Vine marks the end of that
blogger-created quest for the "Instagram
of video." (I don't think such a quest needs to exist). I
don't think Vine will be a key component to Twitter's future
success. (Other content is).

I think Vine is simply a
brilliantly executed app that's insanely fun to use, and it makes
a great addition to Twitter's portfolio. (In much the same way
Instagram makes a great addition to Facebook's ecosystem of
apps).

It's been two days since launch
and I'm already addicted. Vine even made it to my iPhone's home
screen, right next to Instagram.

A few of my favorite features of the app:

It's fast. Videos in your
feed start streaming almost immediately as soon as you scroll
past them. Uploads are just as snappy.

Twitter integration. If you
share a Vine on Twitter, it plays nicely in your followers'
Twitter feeds.

You can cram a surprising
amount of detailed storytelling into a six-second clip.
Spencer Chen is really
good at it, and it's really pleasing to watch these on
loop.

Of course, there are a few things that need improvement. I'd like
to see Tumblr integration, a desktop site that lets you view your
Vine feed on a laptop or desktop, and an easier way to embed
videos without going through Twitter first.

If Vine hadn't been purchased
by Twitter last year before the app even launched, you'd be
reading a dozen stories right now about how it's the next
Instagram and destined to be snapped up by Yahoo –– which is on a
hunt for really cool mobile startups –– for a bazillion
dollars.

But since Twitter, a giant tech
company
now valued at $9 billion, already owns Vine, the team has the
luxury of making an incredible app even more incredible without
worrying about what kind of financial return they'll get out of
it.